The Sun. — London, England, 1864-03-12 00:00:00

IN3 Mita PARLIAMENT XTUSZ OP LORDS—Last Evening, 'The , 1.0111) CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack thel usual hour. :ENCLOSURE OF HAMPSTEAD HEATH. Th 9 Earl of MALMESEURY laid upon the table a bill entitl ed the Leases and Sales of Settled Estates Act Amend meal Bill, which was read a first time. THE SOUTHERN STATES. le Earl of CORK ga - cre notice, on behalf of the Mar quis of ( 31anriearde, that on Friday next he should move for c opi es of eorrespone,ence between her Majesty's Govern meat and the GtoverrAment of the Southern States, relative to the removal of tae British Consuls from their ports, CHLEF RENTS (IRELAND) BILL. This bill Sias a read a third time and passed, TURNPIKE ROADS BILL. Ma "Esiel of ROMNEY moved the second reading of this bill. Lc xd STANLEY of AL DERLEY thought there were nom• a matters contained in the bill that required great con side ration, and therefore he wished the noble earl to post pone the second reading for a short time. the Earl of ROMNEY proposed taking the second read ing., then the amendments, if thought desirable, could be rAs de in committee, The bill was then read a second time. Their lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS--Last Evening. Tho Speaker took the chair at four o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The following bills were read a third time and passed : Caine Railway, Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway, Chertsey Gas, Fclkestone Water, Lianally Railway and Dock Company (No. 1) (Capital), Matlock Bath Water, Newry and Greenore Railway, Southwark Park, and Wat ford and Edgware Junction Railway. 'LIFEBOATS, &c. • On the motion of Sir S. NORTHCOTT a return of the number of lives saved by lifeboats and rocket and mortar apparatus, in each of the last 10 years, was ordered. COLONEL CRAWLEY. Lord HOTHAM gave notice that on Tuesday next, on the motion of the hon. member for Andover, he would move for the production of two documents other than those refer red to by the hon. member. TROOPS IN CHINA. Col. SYKES gave notice that, on going into committee on the army estimates, he would ask a question relative to the transfer of the Indian troops that were stationed in China. LIGHTHOUSE AT CORK HARBOUR. In reply to Mr. SCULLY, Sir R. PEEL said that the question of the lighthouse had been under the consideration of the Trinity Corporation and the Irish Board of 'Works, but there was some differ ence on the subject. THE GOVERNMENT ANNUITIES BILL. Mr. WICKHAM asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether, in his statement on Monday last on the Govern ment Annuities Bill, he had any intention, when alluding to the transactions between the Professional and European Societies, to impute any dishonourable or improper conduct to the European Society. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER explained that he had no intention of imputing anything dishonour able to the European Society, which he did not consider in volved improperly in the transactions referred to. HARBOURS OF REFUGE. Sir S. NORTHCOTE asked the President of the Board of Trade what steps had been taken by the Government since the reports of the Select Committee of 1857 and the Royal Commission on Harbours of Refuge, for the con struction or improvement of harbours; and, whether he would lay upon the table any correspondence that may have taken place between the several departments of the Govern ment on this subject. Mr. M. GIBSON said in regard to the first question, he had to state that a bill had passed in 1861 to allow loans for the purpose of constructing harbours of refuge. In con formity with the provisions of that bill £3,000,000 had already bees granted, and propositions for £200,000 or £300,000 more were under consideration. THE ALLEGED CASE OF STARVATION AT BETHNAL GREEN. Lord R. CECIL asked the President of the Poor Law Board, whether his attention had been drawn to the case of starvationlin Bethnal-green, alleged to have taken place through the neglect of the relieving officer; and whether any investigation into that officer's conduct is to be insti tuted. Mr. 'VILLIERS said the case alluded to had been under consideration, and from inquiries it appeared that the man had been in receipt of Iss. a-week, and no applicatioa had been made for nutriment as regarded the woman. STOPPAGE OF SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' PAY. Mr. ADDINGTON asked the President of the Poor Law Board, whether any provision was made by law for the stoppage out of the pay of soldiers, marines, sailors, and militiamen, of such sums of money as may have been expended from the poor rate in the relief of their wives and children when deserted by them and left chargeable to the parish or union where they are residing; and, if not, whether he will enter into correspondence with the Horse Guards authorities for the purpose of effecting an arrange.. ment to meet the case. Mr, VILLIERS said that this was a direct provision to prevent any such stoppage, and he thought interference With the subject would not be advisable. THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL. Sir J. PAKINGTON asked the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education when he would lay upon the table the annual report of the Committee of Council : whether he had issued instructions to her Majesty's in spectors of schools directing that this year and in future reports would be required from one-half of their number ; and whether the reports received this year from the inspec tors would be presented to the house in the usual manner, and without omission or mutilation ? Mr. LOWE said that the report of the Committee of Privy Council would be laid on the table in June, the usual Lime, THE DANO-GERMAN QUESTION. Mr. S. FITZGERALD rose to draw the attention of the noble lord at the head of the Government to what he had stated on Tuesday evening. The noble lord said that proposals were made for a conference with the belligerent powers on a basis for maintaining the in tegrity of Denmark, to which the principal powers of Europe had agreed. It appeared, however, that the noble lord, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, had made a totally different statement to the effect that France had not been communicated with on the subject, because it was thought right to communicate first with the belligerent Powers. He concluded by asking for information on the matter. (Hear, hear.) Lord PALMERSTON said he thought these questions should not at present be asked pending negotiations be tween Powers who had different views on the subject. (Hear, hear.) What he had intended to state was that the proposition for an armistice having failed, her Ma jesty's Government deemed the matter so im portant that they endeavoured to have a conference adopted. He stated on the occasion in question that Prussia and Austria had agreed to that conference, but that no answer had been received from Den mark. France, Russia, and Sweden would agree to the proposal, and all the powers were agreed to adhere to the provisions of the treaty of 1852, and maintain the integrity of Denmark. However, in the pre sent stage of the proceedings, the formal basis could be decided on. Tho hon. gentlemen proceeded en tirely on a misconstruction of what he had stated, and as be and his noble friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs were entirely agreed on the subject no difference could possible arise between them. SIR ROWLAND HILL, Lord PAL NIERSTON gave notice that, as Sir Rowland Hill had retired from the able discharge of his official duties, he would move that the house should go into com mittee on Monday for the purpose of considering the granting of a pension to Lady Hill in the event of her sur viving her husband zTAE DECLINE OF THE POPULATION OF IRELAND. On the order for going into committee of supply, Mr. HENNESSY called attention to some of the causes of the decline of the population of Ireland, and especially to the difference between the laws for the relief of the poor in Ireland and the laws for the relief of the poor in Eng land and Scotland. He was of opinion that this difference of law was the chief cause of the diminution in the popula tion, and that if the poor law in Ireland were the same as that which existed in this country, the effect would be at once to relieve a large number of poor and to reduce the rates : He moved, " That the house was of opinion that it was just and expedient to ex t en d to Ireland the benefic i al provisione of the English poor law." The notion was seconded by Mr. BLAZE, and opposed by lan VANCE, who contended that the introduction of the English poor l aw i nto Ireland would be a virtual confisca tion of the land of that country. It was also opposed by Sir F. lIEYGATE and Mr. O'REILLY, the latter of whom maid that, howev er much the decline of population in the sieterisland was to be lamented, it the English law of set tlement wore transplanted there the state of things in that respect would be even worse than it was at present. Sir H. BRUCE contended that the Irish workhouses were well managed institution s , and said that the land th e re was rated in the same proportion as in this country, and that the yearly amount actually expended in the main• tenance of the poor was upwards of £387,000. He com plained, however, of the salaries of officers, some of whom were employed for Imperial purposes, and the expenses in cu rred for registration of births, death s , an d marr i ages , which had nothing whatever to do with the relief of the poor, being charged a pon the peer r a t es. After some remarks from Mr. DUNLOP and Sir P. O'BIUEN, Mr. H. HERBERT said if the motion meant anything it meant the introduction of out-door relief into Ireland, as a means of checking the rapid emigration of the people. But his belief was that the causes of the exodus were such as would render any legislative measure totally jeopera• tive. As lon g as there was such a vast difference in the rate of wegee between America and Ireland it would be THE S ITN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVEN ttks?, iv ARCH 12, 1864. perfectly idle to attempt to stop the tide that was now flow ing; and not only would the proposal be inoperative, but it would tend to increase and encourage rather ti.en to ar rest emigration. Sir IL PEEL said that, with regard to the objection which had been urged against the coat of registering births, deaths, and marriages in Ireland being defrayed out of the poor rates, it should be borne in In' nd that in this country a large amount of money raised by poor rates was devoted to purposes unconnected with the relief of the poor. He agreed with the hon. and learned member for tho King's County that the system of out-door relief in England and Scotland was a vast improvement on the Irish system. The arguments of the hon. gentleman, howeve-, would tend to create an impression that in Ireland no out-door relief was granted at all ; but his opinion on this subject was alto- gether incorrect. The endeavour to introduce into Ireland a system of out-door relief, similar to that of Great Britain, would not meet the wishes or the requirements of the Irish people; and if it succeeded, the persons who received relief would be placed in a higher position than the honest and independent labourer. Every halfpenny expended in out• door relief which was not absolutely required was a premium for vice and misery, and if the system proposed by the how gentleman were introduced into Ireland, it would be found that the results would not be commensurate with what was . . met with in England and Scotland. As regards ont-door relief in Ireland, although no doubt the Act of 1838 was greatly improved in this particular by the Act of 1817, no individual had a right to receive such relief. When he introduced the bill of 1862, he proposed that persons hold- ing a quarter of an acre of land should be entitled to relief from the guardians of the poor; but an amend- ment was introduced and arguments were brought forward to show that under no circumstances whatever were the occupiers of more than a quarter of an acre to receive relief. In this country the guardians could afford relief to an unlimited extent, but it was provided that, in the case of able-bodied men, part of such relief should . _ _ be in food and part in money, and that the recipients should be set to work. Now, in Ireland there was no system at all like that ; but it was distinctly understood in 1838, when the poor law was first introduced into that country, that it should not create a right of relief in all classes of persons. Let the house consider for a moment what would be the expense of carrying out this scheme. It was certain that the burdens of the country would be enor mously increased. At the present moment the expenditure per head on the population of England and Wales was Cs 3d, whereas in Ireland it was only 2s 2d. If, however, Ire land were to pay the same sum per head as England and Wales, the result would be that, instead of £6b2,000 a year in poor law relief, she would have to pay £1,757,690. He did not think his hon. and learned friend would be very much pleased at bringing about such a result. As to the alleged inadequacy of the Irish system to the requirements of the people, he would remind the house that in 1849, when the system was in full operation, with the exception, of course, of the liberal improvements introduced in 1862, no fewer than 2,143,766 persons were relieved, and £2,177,000 was expended in the country. There were therefore ample means to meet any emergency that might occur. The hon. gentleman had alluded to the emigration, which had no doubt been of a very vast and extended kind, but it could in no way be attributed to the operation of the poor law. It might be interesting to state the amount of emigration that had gone on and was going on. Last year 119,788 persons left Ireland ; but of that number 62,988 were men, and 56,800 were females, It was, therefore, not true that 100,000 fighting men had left Ireland, as had been stated. (Hear, hear.) Of these emigrants, 14,842 were under the age of ten years. During the first two months of the present year there had been a considerable increase in the emigration as compared with the corresponding months of last year. He believed that this emigration was not dna to the poor laws, bat to natural causes, which were in operation and must continue ; and he thought it better that the people should remove to England or America, where they could get good wages, than remain in Ireland, where these was not sufficient remuneration for their labour. It was only natural, looking to the wages offered in America, that people should proceed there rather than remain in Ireland. And when they considered the prosperity of Irishmen who went abroad, they ought not to blame the emigrants. These people were quite right to go where they could find that reward for their labour which they could not obtain in their native country. He did not think we had seen the end of the emigration from Ireland ; on the contrary, he thought that before the state of that country became what they could wish, another million must leave. The effect of this would be to relieve the labour market, which was now glutted, and thus to improve the condition of those who were left behind. Another cause of emgiration was the general desire to get rid of the small holdings, which had done so much injury to the country. During the last few years the number of holdings under 30 acres had largely decreased, while those above that size had increased. Now this was a desirable result, for it was im possible that any satisfactory result could be attained by men holding five or ten acres. The condition of such men would be very much improved if they became agricultural labourers at good wages. Nor should it be forgotten that the emigration from Ireland was not a solitary fact ; it was part of a general movement which was in process from the west of Europe to America. From Germany especially there had been an immense increase of emigration, From England there had emigrated 640,316 persons, and from Scotland 102,954 persons, during the ten years from 1851 to 1861—and the present annual average was 74,000. He maintained that, great as was the emigration from Ireland, there was no general discontent there. They had no doubt Fenians there, and strong meetings in the Rotunda; but these demonstrations did not indicate the real feeling of the people of Ireland. They had in Ireland a rebel press, whose object was to vilify the authorities and to retard the progress of the country. Was it to be wondered at that poor men who read such articles shoal 1 prefer to emigrate rather than remain in a country of which these things were written, and under the influence of agitators like these, whom he regretted that the law could not reach? He did not suppose that many gentlemen in that house knew who the Fenians were. He would tell them. (Laughter,) He found from a note to one of Moore's poems :hat the ancient Fenians were the nationai militia of Ire land. (Laughter.) Pursuing his inquiries further, he dis covered that in the third century there was a king named Cormack, who had ten daughters—(renewed laughter)— one of these married Fin M'Kemma, who, although a man of independent means, took such a liking to his father-in law, that he raised a regular militia called Finnii-Frian, or the national militia of Ireland. These militia fought the battles of the king, and gained the greatest distinction. At last they quarrelled amongst themselves, and the king of the time said that he could not endure their dissensions any longer, and at the head of the national army he annihilated them all with the exception of one wan, who lived until tin time of St. Patrick. (Laughter.) During the winter they were billetted upon the people, but in the summer they fished for themselves in the country. They boiled :their food in big pots—(laughter)--but before eating they were obliged to strip themselves naked. (Renewed laughter.) They slept ,in trees, like the gorilla of the present day. (Roars of laughter.) They were bound not to marry for money, but for love, and to fight nine men of any other na tion, (Laughter.) The aspirant for admission into their ranks was obliged to prove his speed by running through a wood pursued by the rest of the Fenians, and he 'was not enlisted unless he could get up to and ascend a particular tree before he was caught. (Laughter.) He hoped that the Fenians of the present day would confine themselves to this harmless amusement, and not pursue the course which had led to the annihilation of their predecessors. He would now return to the consideration of the existing condition of Ireland. It was a remarkable fact that the number of cri minal offences in Ireland in 1863 exhibited a decrease of 1,200 as compared with 1862 ; and a further improvement was visible in the present year. Daring the month of Feb., 1864, not a single homicide had been committed in any part of Ireland—a fact unexampled in the history of the crime in that country. It was not true that the trade of Ireland is falling off On the contrary, there were many proofs that there was a spirit of enterprise abroad amongst the people, and many great improvements had recently been made. The hon. gentleman then referred to the cultivation of the Sax crop, which he regarded most hopefully, and concluded by expressing for himself, and his colleagues in the Irish Government, their earnest intention to do all in their power for the substantial improvement and permanent benefit of that country. (Cheers.) Mr. BRIGHT, while thinking one portion of the speech of the hon, gentleman was much below the dignity of the house, complimented him on the moderati'on he had shown, but remarked that there was not a single argument he had used that would not be quite right in a discussion in favour of abolishing out door relief in England. In this country, in the year 1862, there were 1,142,000 persons relieved, or more than 5 per °eat. of the population of England and Wales; in Ireland there were 66,000 persons relieved, or not more than 1 per cent. of the population of that country. In England, out of those who were relieved, 13 per cent, were in the workhouse and 87 per cent, out : in Ireland 91 per cent. were in, and only 9 per cent, out of workhouse. It might be that the tendency of poor laws in every country was to promote pauperism ; but we had a poor law of a libe ral character in England, one less liberal in Scotland, and one infinitely less liberal in Ireland. And he would venture to ask the house on what ground it was that an Irishman in his own country had no claim for relief from the land, buildings, and property in his country unless he went into the workhouse ; but if he came into the county in which he (Mr. Bright) lived, and in which they had a large Irish po pulation, that same man, if overtaken by distress when he had lived among them three years, had a right f'or relief from the rates levied on the houses, lands, and factories of that county, The state of things now was very different from that which existed in Ireland in 1347, when the poor law, as it had since existed, was passed. Notwithstanding the distress which now existed in Ireland, the population was much less than it was then, and whatever might be the system of poor law relief, it would be much more easily administered, and the burden, whatever it might be, on the land would be much less than it was at that time. It was to be presumed that a state of things was approaching in that country under which labour would be more scarce, wages would be higher, and the proportion of the pauper population there would diminish year by year. If that were so,were they now coming to the time—if they had not now arrived at it—when, without unduly burdening the land of Ireland, which was its main property—without adding too much stimulus to pauperism —Parliament might consent to equalise the law, and make it exactly the same in Ireland as it was in England ? He could find only two arguments against that course, One which was very dis creditable to Irishmen—that was, that Irishmen had very little disinclination to accept the relief of paupers ; and the other was that the right hon. gentleman was afraid that the Irish proprietors and the whole of the class above the poorest could not be trusted with the administration of the law so safely or advantageously as the corresponding class was trusted in England. That :might be so, but he could not think we Englishmen need to be influenced b} that argu ment, for if Ireland had been a thousand times further in the Atlantic, we should still have been obliged to leave the law towards the poor to be administered by the rich. He was not surprised that the population of Ireland should in very large numbers find its way to a country where wages were so much higher ; but it did not follow that we should retain a system of law which would allow a man in Ireland justly to tell his countrymen that he had not justice from the imperial Parliament, and that the only country in which he could be respected as a man was one in which he (Mr. Bright) was sorry to say the Irish people would form a very considerable number of whatever party there was in that country hostile to this. (Cheers.) The hon. member, having quoted the opinions of Lord Carlisle, went on to say—lf we had a good principle in England, we ought to adopt it in Ire lend; and if we had a principle rejected in England, but known to be just, we ought to try it in Ireland. There is no humilia tion in Austria speaking of Italy, or in Russia speaking of Poland—there is no humiliation so great as that which is attached to this country when it is said we have ruled over Ireland without dispute by a united Parliament for more than two generations, and we find it now—by the consent of every man, Catholic or Protestant—we find it now pau perised to a great extent, and disloyal and disaffected to this house and to the English Government to a greater extent, perhaps, than at any other period in its history. (Hear, hear, and expressions of dissent.) I have heard a gentle man holding a position in this house say what would be the result if there landed a French force in Bantry Bay. He said, not to me, but in the hearing of a dozen persons, that he believed such a landing would be received with unani mous acclamations throughout the whole of the south of Ireland. lam not responsible for this. I have always spoken in favour of equal justice to that people. The very fact of your doing that, even if you did not get any practical result, would still be a balm to the feelings of Ireland; and it the noble lord at the head of the Government could make up his mind to this, and I call it a small concession, he would be amply compensated by the gratitude and good will of the people of Ireland. (Cheese.) Sir J. WALSH admitted the moderation of the Irish members in speaking on this question, and condemned the speech of the hon. member for Birmingham as the most in tammatory. and the most characterised by demagogism that he, during his experience in that house, had ever heard fall from the lips of any speaker. He had only risen for the pur pose of expressing his deep regret that an hon. member whose words would no doubt echo to Ireland, should have used his power of eloquence to widen the breach and endea vour to aim a blow at the interest, prosperity, and good feeling which ought to exist between Ireland and England. Mr. MAGUIRE totally differed from the hon. baronet who had just spoken in his estimation of the speech of the hon. member for Birmingham, and of the intention of the speaker. He believed, with him, that there was a feeling of intense exasperation and discontent in Ireland. A general opinion was entertained that things were getting worse every day, and that the sooner the mass of the people left the country the better. That showed something to be radically wrong, which ought to induce the Government to endeavour to find out the cause, and to provide a remedy. He did not believe that the enormous misery of Ireland was to be attributed to the poor law. He would suggest to his hon. friend, instead of the vague re solution which he had put before the house, which was open to comment and misinterpretation, to bring in a bill to amend the existing poor law in Ireland. One of the notorious causes of the misery and discontent and emigration from Ireland was not having in the south the same system of tenant right which existed in the north. It was the duty of the Government, as a matter of imperial policy, to deal with that. if it was dealt with in a proper spirit, he believed it would bo the best means of stopping the tide of emigration, which was now carrying away the strength and energy of the country. Referring to the operation of the Irish poor law, the hon. gentleman expressed a strong opinion in favour of the extension of out-door relief, as more economie cal, and as not tending to degrade the objects of relief so much as taking them into the workhouse. Major S. KNOX, in answer to the most intemperate and offensive speech of the hon. member for Birmingham, would only say that if a French army did land in Bantry Bay, the men of Ulster would rise in defence of their rights and liberties. Mr, BRIGHT said he had never stated that if a French army landed in Bantry Bay the people of the country would hail their arrival with delight. He had merely quoted the statement of an Irish Protestant gentleman to that effect. Lord NA.AS twitted the hon. member for Birmingham with having drawn a most di,mal picture of the condition of Ireland, and nevertheless suggesting no remedy. It was a remarkable fact that, although the hon. member pos sessed more talents and more eloquence than commonly fell to the lot of members of that house, and although he had for so many years enjoyed a seat within its walls, he had never yet proposed a measure of the least benefit to a country which he was accustomed to describe as being in so deplorable a state. (Hear, hear.) His belief was that the condition of affairs in Ireland had been grossly exaggerated, and although he regretted to see tile stream of emigration flowing from the country, he knew full well that it was de pendent upon causes far beyond the reach of Parliament. (Hear, hear.) Those causes were various, but assuredly the absence of a tenant right was not one of them, for in the counties where the custom most prevailed, such as Do• negal and Monaghan, the rush of the tide was greatest, lie did not blame the poor people for becoming the victims of delusions, but he did blame those who ought to know better for ascribing the difficulties of Ireland to wrong causes. Aud in the present disaffected state of the country—and it was well known a great amount of disaffection prevailed there—he was certain that there was no one who had in curred a greater responsibility than the hon. member for Birmingham. He believed that the leading principles of the Irish poor law ought to be maintained, and that nothing would more conduce to the extension of emigration and the increase of evictions than the introduction of a general sys tem of outdoor relief into the country. (Hear, hear.) Mr. HENNESSY then announced his withdrawal of the motion. THE ROAD ROUND ST. JAMES'S PARK. Sir W. FRASER called the attention of the First Com missioner of Works to the state of the road round St.James's Park. He hoped the road would be put into decent repair, and that it would be made a macadamised road. Mr. COWPER said considerable care was taken to make the road in question a good one. It was not in a very com fortable state now, on account of a large quantity of granite which had been put upon it, but he had no doubt when the roller was laid over it the road would be restored to a good state. The badness of the road hitherto was owing to the very great traffic and the wet weather ; but he did not think it was worse than other roads of the metropolis, SUPPLY. The house went into committee of supply pro forma and almost immediately resumed. VOTE FOR ARTIFICERS IN THE DOCKYARDS Mr. MASSEY brought up the report of supply. On the vote for pay of the artificers in the dockyards at home being read, Mr. BRAND moved that the vote be re-committed. The motion was agreed to. SUMMARY PROCEDURE (SCOTLAND) BILL. This bill was read a second time. MARINE MUTINY BILL. This bill was read a third time and passed. LAND SECURITIES COMPANY. Sir J. FERGUSSON, in committee of the whole house, moved, "That the stamp duty, payable on the mortgage debentures, transferable by delivery, issued by the Land Securities Company (Limited), shall be the ad valorem duty which, by the Act of the session the 16th and 17th of Vic., C. 59, sec. 14, was prescribed in the case of mortgages given by public companies as therein expressed?' Agreed to. FISH TEINDS (SCOTLAND). Sir W. DUNBAR, for the Lord Advocate, obtained leave to bring in a bill to provide for the commutation of vicarage teinds on fish in Scotland. CONSOLIDATED FUND BILLS. Mr. BRAND brought up two bills which were founded on the resolution passed on Thursday evening. The several bills were read a first time. The house adjourned at half-past eleven o'clock. Persons in debt may obtain instant protection against Imprisonment or seizure of their goods, and an entire release from all debts and liabilities without publicity, by application to Messrs. Marshall, solio:tors of the Court of Bankruptcy. Charges under £5 payable by easy instalments. Offices— (established 1830), 12, Ifatton-garden. City branch-6, Moor gate-street, Bank.—AnvT. ADVERTISEMENT.]—Avoid medicines: they always aggra vate chronic complaints, but Du Barry's Delicious Health Restoring Revalenta Arabica Food, which saves fifty times its cost in other remedies, invariably cures them, restoring perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs, healthy liver, pure blood, refreshing sleep, functional regularity, and energy to the most disordered or enfeebled. We extract a few out of 60,000 Cures :—Cure No. 58,216 of the Marchioness de Brfhan, Paris, of a liver complaint, wasting away for seven years, debility, with a nervous palpitation all over, bad digestion, constant sleeplessness, the most intolerable nervous agitation, and dreadfully low spirited.—Cure No. 1,771. Lord Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieut. of Waterford, of many years' dyspepsia. —No. 49,832. "Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, n ervousness, as th ma, coug h, constipati on , flatulency, sp asms, sickness, and vomiting.—Maria Jolly." —Cure No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derange • ment, and partial deafness.--Cure No. 47121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of ext reme nervousness, indi gestion, gatheriags, low spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure No 54,816 . The Rev. Jae, T. Campbell, Fakenharn, Norfolk, " of indigestion and torpi dity of the liver, whi c h h ad resisie I all medical " treatment." In tins, 1 lb., 2s. 9d. ; 21b., 4s. 6d ; 51b., lls. ; 121 b., 225. ; 241 b 40s.—Barry Du Barry and Co., No. 77 Regent-street, London; also Fortnum and Mason ; and all Grocers and Chemists in every town of the United Kingdom. MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.—March 11, (Before the Assistant-Judge,) The Court sat to-day to hear bail cases, and also those of prisoners in custody standing over from Wednesday. The first called on was that of James Edwards, the pro prietor of " Wombwell's Menagerie of 'Wild Beasts," and the indictment thus set forth the offence :—" For that you unlawfully did erect upon certain land in the hamlet of Mile-end Old Town, in the parish of St. Dunstan, Stepney, adjoining to a certain common and public highway, and near to the dwelling-houses of divers liege subjects of our Lady the Queen, a certain menagerie or caravan for the exhibition of wild beasts therein, thereby occasioning a great number of idle and disorderly persons to meet and assemble; and by means of divers horns, trumpets, and other musical instruments did make and cause to be made in and upon the said land noises and disturbances, whereby the streets, highways, and other public places adjoining the said land were greatly obstructed and blocked up, and the liege subjects of our Lady :the Queen dwelling in the said houses and passing and repassing along the said streets were greatly obstructed, impeded, and incommoded, to the great damage and common nuisance of all the said sub- jects." There were two other counts in this indictment varying the statement of the charge. The defendant in this case is the proprietor of what is popularly known as Wombwell's Alenageiie, and it consisted of 14 large caravans, filled with wild beasts. On the Ist of February last the defendant set up his menagerie on a por- tion of the waste ground just below the turnpike gate in the Mile-end-road, and continued to exhibit there for about three weeks. This piece of land'commenced at St. Mary street, Whitechapel-road, and extended down the road to Charrington's brewery, a distance of about three quarters of a mile, and varied in width from 4 to 30 yards. This land is the property of the lord of the manor, but the various shopkeepers had used the waste land in front of their respec tive shops for the exhiaition of their goods, and in some cases the ground was I€t by the lord of the manor to them at small rentals. The eay after the defendant brought his menagerie on to the ground the police summoned him before the magistrate at Worsaip-street, which was adjourned for a week, and the summons was then dismissed, Mr. Cooke considering that there had been no obstruction. The matter was then taken up by be vestry of Mile-end Old Town,who preferred this indictment against the defendant. When the defendant was.before the magistrate it was stated that he had subscribed to the local charities a very liberal amount for the privilege of standing upon this piece of ground, hav- ing obtained the permission of Mr. Faith, whose premises were in immediate contiguity. It was also urged that the defendant was a man of the highest respectability, and that his menagerie had been patronised by her Majesty, and that he had on several occasions been allowed the privilege of standing at Windsor Castle, in the quadrangle within the park, and her Majesty's household and royal children had frequently visited it, end only a few weeks ago her Majesty made the defendant a present of two animals for his collec tion. It was also said that this was not by any means a prosecution carried on by the desire of the inhabitants, but by a few of the vestrymen, and that a great majority of the vestry were averse tc a prosecution of the proprietor of Wombwell's Menagerie, as they did not consider it to be a nuisance. On the case being called on, Mr. Sleigh applied that it might be adjourned, as he intended calling upwards of 30 of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood on behalf of the de. fendant, to prove that the exhibition complained of was not a nuisance. Mr. Poland said if the defendant only chose to plead guilty, it would not be necessary to trouble the Court with the case, as the prosecutors would be satisfied with his own recognizances not to repeat the nuisance. Under the advice of Mr. Sleigh, the defendant pleaded guilty. Mr. Mani said he wished to call his lordship's atten tion to to this case, as it had been denied that this was a nuisance, but the prosecution had been instituted by the vestry of Mile-end 0:d-town, as these beasts were confined in carriages, and during the whole night they kept growl ing and roaring, accompanied by the playing of bands of music, the beating of drums and gongs, with a collection of a mob of 2,000 or 3,000 persons, and the greatest confusion prevailed. The crowd that assembled was drunk and rio tous. The parish did not wish to press for any punish ment, but such assemblies must ho prevented, and, as no tice had been given that it was intended to hold a fair on this ground on Easter Monday, it must be understood that if such should take place the parties so offending woul be prosecuted. The Assistant-Judge said that such nuisances as these could not be allowed to go on in opposition to the wishes of the parishioners. If the defendant refrained from a repeti tion of that which had been complained of he would hear no more of the matter. If, however, he persisted in going on and offending, he would be at once brought up to this court for judgment, and without any further trial would be sentenced for this offence. He should call upon him to enter into his own recognizances in the sum of £lOO to come up for judgment when called upon. David Jackson, 41, clerk, and Henry Whitty, 33, clerk, were indicted for stealing six sacks of oats, the property of John Oakley, the master of David Jackson. Mr. Poland and Mr. F. H. Lewis (instructed by Mr. Wontner) prosecuted ; Mr. Orridge appeared for Jackson ; and Mr. Montague Williams for Whitty. The case occupied several hours, but the facts were briefly as follow:—T►ie prosecutor is a cab and omnibus proprietor, keeping upwards of 160 horses, and has three establish- ments where he carries on his business, one being in Gold ington-street, St. Pancras, a second in Grey's. inn -road, and a third in Little Gray's-ina-lane. The prisoner Jackson was in charge of the yard; in Little Gray's•inn• lane, and there acted as foreman while the business was carried on in part nership with a Mr. Cranfield for abcut five years. At the expiration of that period a dissolution of partnership took place, but Jackson continued to act as Mr. Oakley's fore man until the present charge was preferred against him. Some months ago, in consequence of some housebreaking tools being found secreted on the premises at No. 155, Gray's-inn-road, and from other circumstances that came to the knowledge of the prosecutor, a watch was set upon him which continued for a long time by a constable named Thorogood. On the 12th February, between 7 and Bin the evening, Jackson came to the yard with a horse and cart and drove to the gateway. Soon afterwards he came out of the premises on foot, and looked up and down the road as if to see that the coast was clear. The horse and cart was then driven down the yard 1y The prisoner Whitty, Jackson fol lowing on the foot pavement until it arrived at a corn dealer's shop kept by a man named Nicholson, in Little James street, leading from Gray's-inn-road to Bedford-row. The cart here stopped, and Jackson concealed himself in a door way close by while Whitty took out six sacks of oats, which were carried through the private door into the corn chand ler's parlour. The cart then left, Jackson following, but on nearly reaching the yard it was stopped, when Whitty got out and Jackson took his place and drove up the yard with the empty cart. Whitty went into a publichouse close by, the Calthorpe Arms, where he was soon afterwards joined by Jackson. On leaving the publichouse Jackson stopped one of Mr. Oakley's omnibuses, and told the driver to put his friend down at the Elephant and Castle. Jackson was arrested by Sergeant Cooke, who told him that he was oharged with stealing six sacks of oats belonging to his employer, and he replied that he did not do it, but that it was another man. The sergeant asked him who the other man was, and he said he did not know, when he was taken to the station-house. The premises of Nicholson were searched, and in the parlour were found six sacks of oats, one of black and five of white, which were in sacks bearing the name of Bowyer. Whitty managed to keep out of the way until the evening of the Feb. 17, when he was met by Thorogood, in Southampton-buildings, and accosted by him as Harry Whitty, but he denied that that was his name, and that Thorogood was mistaken as to the man, on which Thorogood said he was not, that he knew him well, and should take hin to the station-house on the charge of being concerned with David Jackson in stealing six sacks of oats. These facts were preyed in detail by several witnesses. Mr. Orridge and Mr. Montagu Williams addressed the Court on lsehalf of their respective clients. The Assistant Judge summed up the evidence with his usual care. The Jury, after a few minutes' consultation, returned a verdict of Guilty against both the prisoners. Mr, Poland said that in 1850 the prisoner Jackson was then a private iu the 7th Dragoon Guards, and was tried on the 11th January, 1851, by court martial in Dublin for bur • glariously entering the quarters of Lieut. Thomas William Goff, in Company with Marley, who was executed for the murder of a Mr. Cope, assistant to a watchmaker, in Par liament-street, some years ago, Marley being then a private in the same regiment. The way in which this forcible en • try was effected was by making a hole through the ceiling from the room above. The officer was in his room and in bed at the time, and being disturbed seized Jackson, who swore he would murder him, and a scuffle ensued. The noise caused by this struggle attracted the attention of other persons in the barracks, and on hearing them come uustairs Jackson seised a chairs and put it in front of him for the purpose of hiding his face. He then rushed downstairs, knocking several people over, and he would have got away, but the non-commissioned officer who happened to be at the foot of the stairs put out his foot and tripped him up. Far this offence he was tried by courtmartial, and sentenced to be transported for 14 years. He was the companion of Marley, and gave him a character at his trial. Mr. Orridge said there was some mistake about that sen tence, as it was immediately reduced to seven years' trans portation, and he was liberated in two years and a half. Mr. Lewis said, in addition to this, about nine months ago, in a room used,'by Jackson, in Mr. Oakley's yard, a quantity of housebreaking implements were fo un d. O n e day also he went into Mr. Oakley's house in Gold ington street for some oil, and seeing Mrs. Oakley place £l6O in a drawer, he went downstairs for the professed purpose of warming the oil, which he said was congealed. He remained downstairs until Mrs. Oakley had left the room, when ho went up, opened the drawer by means of false keys, took away the contents and disappeared. The drawer also con tained a check, but with a man so adroit as the prisoner it was unnecessary to say that it was never changed. John Chown, police-sergeant 5 E, said he remembered the skeleton keys Using found in the room in Mr. Oakley's yard, and he had to investigate the case, and he had a strong suspicion that Jackson knew something about them. Inspector Turpin, of the INI division, proved that Whitty, was convicted at the Southwark Police-court on the 6th of October, 1855, of stealing 581 b weight of tea, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. Since that conviction he had been the constant associate of thieves. The Assistant Judge said at first he was inclined to think that Jackson had been induced to commit this robbery by Whitty, but he then thought it was just the reverse of that. The sentence upon Whitty was that he be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for two years; but with respect to Jackson, from what they had heard and what was known of him, his offence must be visited with a severe sentence, which was that he be kept in penal servitude for ten years. RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE. TRAFFIC RECEIPTS FOR THE WEEK. Miles Opened. Receipts. Railways. 1864. 1863. 1864. 1863. £ £ 1,888 1.764 600 654 1,579 - 5,196 5,383 16.817 14.768 225 223 424 357 111 145 406 286 1,324 1,206 Belfast and N. Counties 136 136 Belfast and County Down.... 49 49 Blyth and Tne 2B 28 Bristol and Exeter 1215 1214 Caledonian Cockermouth & Workington B5 85 Cork and Bandon 2O 20 Cork, Blackrock, & Passage 6l 64 Cork and Youghal 325 325 Cornwall Deeside l7 17 Dublin & Belfas t J unction ... Dublin and Drogheda 75 63 Dublin and Meath Dub. &Wicklow and Wexid 915 484 Edinburgh and ‘ilasgow 1695 1691 Furness, &c 5O 5 Glasgow & South-Western Gt. Eastern,Nrfk.,&E.Union 663 64i Great Northern 353 351 Great North of Scotland 5B 58 Gt. Northn. & Westn. (Irel.) 7l/ 711 r it.Southn. & Westn.(lrind.) 3734 329 Great Western 10564 10565 Inverness & Aberdeen June 864 861 Inverness & Perth Junction 1191 Irish North-Western 145 145 Lancashire & Yorkshire 402 3951 Limerick and Ennis. Limerick and Foynes 265 265 Llanelly 461 461 London & North-Western London and Blackwall 5l 51 London & South-Western Lond. Brighton, &S. Coast 2614 2614 London, Chatham, & Dover 721 721 Do. Metropolitan Extension 104 55 Lond., Tilbury, & Southend Ran.,Sheffield,&Lincolnsh Ranch. S.Jun.& Altrincham 95 91 Maryport and Carlisle Metropolitan Midland (incl. N.-Western) 641 620 Midland Gt. Westn. of 'rind 2.295 2595 Monkland Monmouthsh. Rail. & Canal 44 44 North British, Edin., Perth and Dundee N-Eastern and Stock. & Danl 1095 North London 9 . North Staffordshire 254 Oswestry and Newton 5O Rhymney 194 St. Helen's Canal & Railway 52 Scottish Central Scottish North-Eastern l3B Somerset and Dorset 66 South Devon South-Eastern 306 Taff Vale 57 1,292 1,285 1,417 1.311 171 141 2,428 1,872 7,433 7,963 3,099 2,788 8,458 8,195 27,740 28,297 30,768 27,749 1,572 1.801 - 476 525 6,870 7,184 54,993 54.893 937 88: 1,003 - 1,486 1,771 35,280 31,770 173 188 1)1 122 656 510 88,859 83,887 1,613 2,160 18,216 20,268 14,210 15,5 ;7 3,b98 3,050 875 408 985 954 15,488 14,630 1,184 3,0,3 1,371 1.384 1,900 2,5 4 43,828 39,635 4,720 5,0u9 1,597 1,526 2,575 2,179 410 i 10791 9 254 11,926 11,343 52,448 48,577 3,241 3,238 8,336 7.914 1,131 898 138 30i 75i 306 Ulster Vale of Clwyd Vale of Neath 32} Waterford and Kilkenny 3l Waterford and Limerick 77 West Cornwall 27i W.Hartlepool Harbr. &Rai 1 52 W'haven,Cleator,& Egrmnt 7 Whitehaven Junction l3 Whitchaven & Furness Jun 35 FOREIGN AND COLONIAL. Antwerp and Rotterdam 52 Austrian B2B Belgian Eastern Junction 2O Bombay, Baroda, & Cen. India 185 Buffalo and Lake Huron l6l Detroit and Milwaukie lB9 Dutch Rhenish 1082 852 818 2,070 2,194 4,607 4,363 4,925 4,897 '5(l 401 2.996 2,844 16,538 10,421 5,462 5,460 2,455 2.263 137 127 2,477 2.005 .3.01 366 1,125 1,288 828 167} 1611 189 108/ lio 1302 Eastern Bengal Eastern of France East Indian Grand Trunk of Canada lO9O Great Indian Peninsula 553 Great Luxembourg 134 Great Southern of India Great Western of Canada 345 Madras Madrid, Saragossa &Aucant 650 Northern of Canada Northern of France ... 697 Norwegian Trunk Ottoman Paris, Lyons, & Meditcrrn 1895 Paris and Orleans 1614 753 1090 495 131 '74k 774 3,944 1,218 754 700 1,001 832 932 847 Pernambuco . 774 Royal Danish 69 Sambre and Meuse 6B South Austrian Southern of France .. 770 Victorian 196 Welland West Flanders 75 W. and N.W. of France . 932 1,247 1,096 29,071 32,565 3,157 1,6 8 1,936 2,381 4,506 4,491 4,146 3,583 1,43 870 52,957 50,797 21,785 13,138 19,180 18,534 10,644 8,9 0 4,119 4,406 li 5 12,319 14,910 47 5,061 3,653 190 17,312 15,911 94 2,148 1,947 i 97 47,513 47,174 44 637 584 481 1713 1494 347 237 106,880 119,012 5),974 54,281 769 835 1968 680 196 1,348 1,463 4e, e 29 49,708 19,001 21,700 11,119 8,786 1,049 901 36,901 35,655 GLASGOW AND SOUTH-WESTERN. The half-yearly meeting #f this company was held on Wednesday, at Glasgow; Mr. J. Lumsden in the chair. P , e report was taken as read. The CHAIRMAN, in moving its adoption, said the result of their last half-year's business gave them an increase of upwards of £12,000 in the receipts over those of the corresponding half.year. This increase in the traffic, and the extra mileage worked by the opening of the Kirkcudbright and Bridge-of- Weir, Railways, had rendered it necessary to pro vide a considerable addition to the carrying stock of the company. The directors were fully convinced that it was true economy to keep both the line and rolling stock in first-rate order. During the past half-year a very considerable sum had been ex' pended on renewals, and the directors had instructed the engineer to proceed vigorously with works to keep the permanent way in the most efficient state of repair. The average rate of interest was at pre sent lower than it ever was before, being only £3 18s, 101 d. per cent. The extensive shipbuild ing y ards established in the neighbourhood of Go van, and the rapidly increasing trade there had in duced the directors, in conjunction with the Cale donian Company, to apply to Parliament for a branch railway from the joint line to that district, and, from the saving that would be effected by superseding in a great measure the long and expen sive cartage of the material used by engineering works, they had no doubt it would very soon yield a. remunerative return for the capital invested, Resolutions were passed adopting the report; declaring a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum on the ordinary stock of the company, re electing the retiring directors and auditor; and authorising the conversion of some of the company's mortgage debt into funded debt. EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. The report of the directors state that the total increase in the receipts during the half-year ending the 31st of January amounts to £17,606, the total receipts having been £206,688, against £189,083, The working expenses are £83,405, against £76,544, being about 40 per cent. in both cases ; but in this half-year's account the whole expense incurred in the maintenance of way has been charged to re venue, and is nearly £4,000 in excess of the charge made in the corresponding half-year. After pro viding for interest, taxes, and fixed charges the net balance is £76,172, from which the directors recom mend payment of the 5 per cent. preference divi dends, amounting to £16,779; a dividend on the ordinary stock, at the rate of 4 per cent., £48,202 ; in all £64,981, leaving a balance of £11,191, to be carried to the rest, which will then amount to £30,383. From this is deducted £lB,OOO in full of claims by:passengers in the Winchburgh accident, and £1,904 sundry casual accounts, leaving a balance of £10,479. The works for 41 miles of the Queensferry branch (eight miles in all) have been contracted for, and the remainder of the line will be let in a short time. A connection with Glasgow harbour being much wanted for traffic to and from the east and north of Scotland, the Board have thought it advisable to adopt a scheme proposed to them for a branch from the Dumbartonshire line near Maryhill to Stobcross. It will give an excel lent access to the harbour, and pass through a con siderable field of minerals, without any material interference with house property. An agreement has been made with the Alva Railway Com pany to purchase their line at a cost of £12,500 Edinburgh and Glasgow stock, and as suming a debenture debt of £5,000. The capital account shows that £4,992,345 had been expended, leaving a balance of £58,027. The revenue account for the half-year ending the 31st of January shows that £213,791 had been received and £92,088 ex pended, leaving a balance of £121,703, from which £27,656 is deducted for interest oa loans and £17,875 for dividends and rents of other lines, leave ing a balance, as above, of £76,172. SCOTTISH NORTH-EASTERN. The report of the directors states that the revenue for the half-year ending the 31st of January last, amounted to £133,821, and the expenditure to £62,974, leaving a balance of £70,849, of which the Aberdeen section takes £42,155, the Scottish Mid land £18,067, and the Dundee and Arbroath £10,627. The available balance of the Aberdeen section, after deducting interest on loans and other charges, amounts to £21,588, including £473 from the preceding half-year. The dividends on the 4, 6, and 7 per cent. preference stocks amount to £15,943, and the dividend on the Aberdeen original stock at 1 per cent. per annum to £4,150, leaving a balance of £1,495 for the next half-year. The available balance of the Scottish Midland section, including £439 from the preceding account, amounts to £15,986, from which a dividend at the rate of 4, per cent. per annum is recommended, leaving a balance of £836. The available balance of the Dundee and Arbroath section, after deducting pre ferable burdens, amounts to £10,933, including £2,376 from the reserve fund. The dividend on the 5 per cent. preference stock, and on the original stock at the rate of 71 per cent. per annum, absorbs £9,167, leaving £1,766 to the credit of the reserve fund. During the past half-year the re venue has shown a steady increase, notwithstanding the diversion of the traffic to and from the Inver ness distri... which :: no w finds its way by the line, which was opened Inverness and Per; " 1 throughout in September last. 1... ' , ? expenditure has been increased in consequence of the additieLq train mileage run on the line during the half-year. There has also been a considerable increase in the rates and taxes paid during the half-year. The working ex penses are 41.8 per cent., and the total expenses 47.05 per cent. of the revenue. The average rate of interest on the company's debenture debt in January was £4 Os 9d per cent. The capital account has been charged with £12,465 for new works, &c. The total consolidated stock of the company authorised amounts to £2,613,192, and the amount to be raised on de bentures to £BBl,9oo—total, £3,495,092. The un issued stock amounts to £193,000, and unissued debentures to 1;87,220 —together, £280,220, SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, POST.—The news which reaches us twice a week from America has long ceased to excite any parti cular interest. The rival Republics have sub sided into a chronic state of warfare, and the incidents peculiar to such a condition of things are necessarily monotonous. The intelligence of a Federal reverse or of a Confederate disaster has ceased to possess any importance in the eyes of those who have been wearily watching the course of events on the North American continent during the past three years. The news brought by the last mail may be taken as a fair sample of what has been for several months the history of American affairs. Military operations are carried on in half a dozen distinct regions of the states, and the sue cess which attends either of the belligerents in one quarter is counterbalanced by some reverse sus tained elsewhere. General Grant, we are told, has pushed his army forward some 20 miles across the Georgian frontier, but, finding the enemy stationed in force at the town of Dalton, has again with drawn it to the neighbourhood of his former posi tion. From the south-west we learn that General Sherman had attacked and defeated a Confederate force under the command of Bishop Polk, but was himself in considerable danger of finding his com munications cut off by General Johnstone, whose army had reinforced that of Polk. The siege of Knoxville has been raised, and Longstreet has once more retired into Western Virginia. In Florida, report says that the Federals have sus tained a serious defeat, the details of which the Government have declined to publish. That the great American civil war still proceeds is known for certain ; but of the period of its duration we re main just as ignorant as we have hitherto been. The time is now rapidly approaching when the population of the Northern States will be once more called upon to elect a chief magistrate. Mr. Lincoln's term of office will expire this time twelvemonth ; but, six months hence, the elections will be held for the nomination of his successor. The American Constitution does not interdict a President from a second time filling the highest office in the State, although, in practice, the indi vidual who has occupied the White House at Washington is, when his tenancy expires, gene rally consigned to obscurity. To this rule, how ever, there have been several exceptions. Between the years 1801 and 1825 there were but three Pre sidents—Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, each of them having, by re-election, held office for eight years. General Jackson, one of the ablest of the American Presidents, was re-elected in 1833, when his first term had expired, and George Washington, the first President of the Republic, equally remained at the head of affairs during twice the period allotted by the Constitution to the enjoyment of the supreme power in the State. With these exceptions no citizen has been a second time elected in America to the Presidential office. The question which has already begun to be anxiously mooted in the Ncrthern States, is whether under existing circumstances the established rule should be disregarded, and Abraham Lincoln's name be added to the list of those who have been twice honoured with the suffrages of their fellow-citizens. There are evidently two points of view from which this question may be regarded, though each indi cates the same result. It may be said that Mr. Lincoln should be re-elected because in the present critical position of affairs the interests of the Re public might be jeopardised by permitting the government to pass into other hands, or his title to re-election may be made to rest upon his personal qualifications. Judged by the standard of ability by which we are accustomed at this side of the Atlantic to gauge the merits of statesmen, it is scarcely necessary to say that Abraham Lincoln would be pronounced unfit to hold any office de manding the exercise either of sagacity or firm ness. It is not, however, by such a standard that Americans measure their public men. The large majority of American Presidents have been men who, in respect to skill in statecraft, have been far below mediocrity, and in this majority Mr. Lincoln must be reckoned. Whether any one else occupy ing his position during the past three years would have acted with greater prudence and foresight may be a matter on which some diversity of opinion may prevail; but, looking at the present condition of the American Republic, few will hesitate to admit that, under different guidance, the fortunes of the Republic could not be more heavily overcast than they are at the present moment. Whether with a different President the war might not ere this have been brought to a close may be doubtful; but whether another Government could have more scan dalously misled the American nation, more profli gately squandered its resources, and more recklessly pledged its credit, is a matter on which no difference of opinion can by any possibility exist. To those who believe that the vigorous prosecution of the war must inevitably lead to the re-establishment of the American Union, the re-election of the present President will certainly recommend itself. Mr. Lincoln and his advisers have at all events never relaxed their efforts to restore peace by the vigorous employment of the sword. Nor can the Republi can party complain that the present chief magis trate has ever refused co-operation in any of its schemes. Mr. Lincoln has never, like some few members of the Holm of Commons, declared him self independent of his electors. The American President may. to European eyes, have appeared to be fulfilling conscientiously t he obli g ations of his office. For the jobbery and corruption which have shocked even the cities of Washington and New York we impute no blame to Mr. Lincoln, and cer tainly his own supporters will scarcely on that ac count withdraw their respected magistrate. If, then, the Republican party is united, there is no reason why Mr. Lincoln should not be declared Pre sident at the autumn elections. Whether he is or not cannot, however, seriously affect the progress of the war. Before that time circumsta nces will arise which, we believe, will render it impossible for either Mr. Lincoln or anyone else to impel the Northern population any further in that mad career on which, just three years ago, they so unhappily entered. ---- TIMES.—Amid the convulsions which have shaken the world during the last few years the influence of all that is most intelligent and worthy in England has been constantly given to the cause of peace. From the time that the French Emperor set out on his Italian campaign to the present day the tempta tion to draw the sword has never ceased to be pre sent to this nation; and yet the temptation has been steadfastly resisted. Our sympathies have been appealed to, our pride has been wounded, our in terests have been threatened ; national influence, national glory, extended territory, a closer and more firmly cemented alliance with our near and powerful neighbour, have all been offered to us in the hope that we might be coaxed or taunted into war, and the end is that we are still at peace. We bear, in deed, some of the burdens of hostilities, as is inevi table in se disturbed a time ; but, on the whole, we are quiet and prosperous, adding yearly to the re sources of the country, and improving, we hope, the condition of the people. The moderation and strength of mind which were requisite to deal as we have dealt with the 'pretensions of the American Federals, the tyranny of the Russian Government in Poland, and the aggression by Germany on a weak State near our own shores may be cited as a sufficient proof that, in spite of temporary anger or misleading sympathies, the Government and all classes of this country are firmly bent on abstaining from foreign quarrels. What, then, is the mission of the Peace society ? When all England is one stanch and sincere peace society, and shows its de votion to the cause by ceaseless remonstrances with the reckless nations which are soaking the earth with blood and piling up mountains of debt in both hemispheres, why should any set of men arrogate to themselves th e right to speak as the especial ene mies of war, and parade their names as if they alone among the English nation were grieved at the spectacle which the world presents? W e did not ex pect to hearagain of the meddlesome fraternity which sent deputies to the Emperor Nicholas just before the Russian war ; but it appears that they cannot allow the present critical time to pass away with. out once more approaching a warlike Potentate. We publish elsewhere a memorial, bearing the well-known names of Pease and Gurney, which has been presented to the Emperor of the French from the Peace Society, thanking him for his pro posal for assembling an international Congress " to adjust by mutual counsel the unsettled questiOne which seem to jeopardize the peace of nations, and to concert measures;forthe mutual and simultaneous reduction of those great armaments which have proved at once so burdensome to the resources, so dangerous to the peace, and so detrimental to the morals of Europe." If we had any historical super stition, we might fancy that the appearance of these gentlemen at such a time was ominous. It was among the best ascertained facts in the politics of our age that the resolution of the 4 late Czar to listen to no remonstrances from Englaed on the su b j ect of the Principalities was due to the' co Td that England would nude,: no conviction : venture into a war. This ruler, ic in ti j oL i i es n and no inn:gni,.t e 3 with the after 30 years' experience on the throne , , voted best means of information through able and d e . diplomatists, and with the recollections of hie C°Y; hood, all associating England with everythi n g the is resolute and pertinacious in war, came to believe to believe that we were at last truly a nation of shopkeepers, who would see every right and every principle perish as long as we were left to add one shilling to another, By the very confession of the Russian Court, it was the belief that the so-called Manchester School were the virtual rulers of the country, which led the mistaken Potentate to per severe in the course that produced the humiliation: of his Empire, and, perhaps, also his own untimely send. How much misery and slaughter, and what an addition to the burdens of Europe, were pro duced by that fatal resolution ! To the ignoble theories of which the three Quakers of that time were the representatives this flatlets and mankind in general owe no small part of the evils under which they have suffered since. The British people can, indeed, agree to a great deal that tn' Peace Society puts in its memorial ; they can hone that the European Powers will tend more and ore to adjust their differences by mutual counsel and coeeesejon ; th e y long for the simultaneous reduction of armatet.entei and firmly believe that if the Emperor will lead the Powers of Europe into the path of arbitration and disarmament, he will confer on his reign a glory far brighter and more enduring than any that can be reaped from the most brilliant military achieve. ments. We must protest, however, generally against the practice of private individuals addressing the Sovereigns of foreign countries on political matters, more especially when they take upon themselves to censure by implication the conduct of their own country. These Quaker gentlemen are quite as cone finent in their way as the four Liverpool merchants of some :ears back. They inform the Emperor that to him "belongs the signal honour of having taken the initiative in proposing to the States of Europe to substitute the arbitration of reason and justice for that of the sword".—" to unite in relieving the , people from the burden of warlike preparations ;' and they speak of the "general and cordial re sponse with which the overture was greeted." To any one who remembers the facts of the case the bold inaccuracy of these assertions will be astonish . ing. So far from these being a general and cordial response, Lord Russell has stated in the House of Lords that he sounded the Russian and Austrian Governments on the matter, and was informed by them that it was their fixed intention to re' ject the pretensions of the Congress to discuss the questions which concerned themselves. 1 1 - 6 to England, the view the Government tocek, with the unanimous consent of all parties and clas-. 9 " the nation was, that a meeting of such a would embitter the already existing disputes, wilt. ° it would raise questions which it could never hope, to settle without an appeal to arms. The view o f Prussia was, we believe, pretty much the same. If, then, the four Great Powers were unanimous i 0 declining the invitation, what becomes of the " gene' ral and cordial responee" spoken of in the memorial? The truth is that, with their usual infelicity, the Peace Society have come forward to compliment 0 foreign Prince and direct their inuesdoes against their own people just at a time, and on a questioef the most unfitting cf all. The main and, indeed , the only ground on which England rejected the late Congress was that it would in all probability be the precursor of war. In that opinion our Governmen t was joined by those other Powers with which it consulted, and the intelligence of all classes has affirmed the wisdom of their course. As to the EI'L peror relieving the people of Europe from warlike preparations, no compliment could be less deserved' In the opinion of most people, even in France itself , and among those most attached to his person end authority, the evil by which the Emperor has gon e far to counterbalance the great benefits he has coo' ferred on France and Europe has consisted in the inordinate armaments he has established in hie oval country and imposed, consequently, on neighbouring nations. The future will show whether he has ail disposition to reduce these, or even to leave theto to burden their respective countries in peace. COUNTRY MARKETS. LIVE RP 0 OL—FRIDA Y. There was a limited attendance of the town and countri trade to-day, and wheat sold to a fair extent at full rates; Flour more saleable, at last week's prices. Oats in little demand, and oatmeal was scarcely inquired for. EgyPtl7, beans generally rather higher than last Friday. There vi"" little doing in Indian corn, bnt prices as before. WAKEFIELD—FRIDAY. A good show of wheat to-day, and factors generally 6 e, the prices of Friday last. The demand is confined alien to secondary sorts, and only a small business was done : 0 at a slight concession. Barley met a limited sale, and vi rather cheaper. Other articles maintained former priceo' Averages for the week : Wheat 2,728 qrs., at 4ls Old Rye — —s Od Beans — —s —d 8ar1ey......... 685 Peas Oats STAMFORD—FRIDAY. White wheat, 42s to 44s ; red, 37s to 41a per 36 stop e : Barley, malting, 33s to ss; grinding, 29s to 32s per c i e s Oats, 18s to 22a per 24 stone. Beans, old, 40s to -- 0 qr. ; new, 34s to 365. LINCOLN—FRIDAY. White wheat new, 41s to 45s Barley, grinding.. 29s to 3° . ° Red do. 34s to 40s Oats, old, .. 23s to D' l , Old white —s to s New do -...10s to la g Red do, ato s ( Beans. gos to to Barley, malting 32s to 36s 1 Beans, new 348 to CORK-FRIDAY. The following were the quotations this morning : wheat, 8s Od to 8s 10d; white, 8s Oct to 9s 8d , WW I, t o 6d to 8s Od ; oats, 4s 10d to 68 2d ; black do., 48 4d 58 3d. BRISTOL SUGAR—FRIDAY. There has been less doing in the raw sugar market week, and the sales have been very small ; prices were $0 altered. Refined goods exhibit a quiet toae. No sales report in rum. [ADVERTISEMENT.]—HoIIoway's Pills.—Everybool Wish.—Ona of the many causes of the eminent succePor this medicine is the quiet, purifying effect it exarts the circulation ; it watches over the new blood forlPtio from the food, invigorates the distribution of the-139 blood, and casts out the old which has done its duty,4 whose further presence becomes detrimental. By . t o e t Holloway's Pills, agreeably to their accompanying ma t t e tions, every person may attain the best permissible :# O l O, health without interfering materially with his usual 1 19 op , pleasures, or pursuits. The weak and nervous willoot themselves invigorated by judicial doses of this med,',Of and by steady and persevering attention may .eonfintes hope for increased strength, greater comfort, and b health. Births. ti tr e CARIEMITHEN.—On the 11th inst., at 13, Hereford -o- tlya Marcnioness f C . ot a s6n. 0,140 PARKER —On the e 10th inst., armarthen, the wife of James ... - üblisher, Oxford, of a sn. Li e°to Sn p Aw.—On the 10th inst., o at Woolwich, the wife of Colonel Shaw, R,A., of a son, .0411 WALFORD.—On the 9th inst., at 6, Cornwall-C - (1 ,, Queen's-gate, the wife of Herbert H. Watford, Ps" A eon. Marriages. V d ila CROZIER—GOLD.—On the 10th inst., at St. Mar„Y - ' 3 ,,yiv - ' Church, Frederick William, second son of H. R. Esq., of 25, Upper Gloucester-place, Dorset-8(1 01 'V 3 1 Eleanor Roberta, second daughter of Major's e Charles E Gold. MORGAN—BELL.—On the 10th inst., at Trinity - m et ° Bow, James W. M organ , t o Eli za , the only daug' Captain J. Bell, of St. Thomas-road, Stepney. Deaths. f 1 4 ' BENHAM.--On the 10th inst., at 19, Wikmore - s tre e t' John Lee Benham, aged 79. 0 0/ er rrlik BURNARD.—On the 10th inst., at the London Fel l ,„ - 0 Vital, Charles F. Burnard, M.R.C.S., of Coral' ford, Plymouth, aged 21. De titili CLARKS.—At No. 2, Pine Cottage, Lee-road, 131 ac Margaret Thornton Clarke, aged 106. 0 4 HEBBERT.—On the 10th inst., at Bromley-comp: o ' ' Hebbert, Esq., aged 82. o'6° ll KENTISR.—On the 9th inst., at Edgbaston, na r y' 1, of the Rev. John Kentish, aged 90. r .„,ptrii ll NEVILLE.—On the 9th inst., at Stoke, Devon. s' - • ti , Neville, R.N., aged 86. ,- Ife enl i (i . TIERNEY.—On the 10th inst., at Park Lodge , '1: floP Anna Maria, eldest daughter of the late Righ t Tierney. ---- A ' O. / ' London: Prin-zd and Prbiished toy WILLIA. SI- 2 T r t in the Precinct of the Savoy, tbe of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at 'llan Sur/ Ormlecottp'i —Saturday, March 12, 1861. laStifmdc,aez, I I